Labour Party Conference helps slash losses at Eurovision Song Contest venue
The group behind the Liverpool arena that hosted 2023’s Eurovision Song Contest saw its losses slashed thanks to the return of major events such as the Labour Party Conference, new documents have revealed.
The ACC Liverpool Group operates the city’s waterfront event campus which is made up of the M&S Bank Arena, conference centre, exhibition centre as well as the 216-bed Pullman Hotel. It also runs the TicketQuarter brand alongside its own arena box office operation.
As well as hosting the Labour Party Conference in autumn 2022 it also staged the World Gymnastics Championships. Sir Keir Starmer’s party returned to the city for a second successive year towards the end of 2023. The full impact of that event, as well as the Eurovision Song Contest, will be reflected in next year’s accounts.
Newly-filed documents with Companies House show that for the 12 months to March 31, 2023, the group’s turnover surged from £18.4m to £30.1m while its pre-tax losses were cut from £4.3m to £1.7m. The group last reported pre-tax profits in the year ending March 2019.
‘Performance has surpassed our ambitious expectations’
A statement signed off by the board said: “The period covered in this annual report is the first full year of trading since the pandemic. The comparative period reported in the financial statements reflected seven months of unrestricted trade from September 2021 following the lifting of all social restrictions.
“Since the return of large events in September 2021, operations have been intensive and core financial revenue performance has surpassed our ambitious expectations, whilst we’ve managed ongoing significant economic pressure on energy costs and labour rates.
“The magnificent Eurovision, hosted on site in May 2023, alongside an equally successful Labour Party Conference and World Gymnastics Championships in Autumn 2022, enabled us to showcase internationally our ability to successfully host a diverse range of complex large scale events within a safe, welcoming and inclusive atmosphere.
“These major events were delivered alongside a busy programme of entertainment, sport and exhibition events, as event programmes were rescheduled and bounced-back quickly, and other high-profile association and corporate bookings as market confidence steadily returned to the business events sector.
‘The city’s bold vision’
The company added: “It has been a remarkable period, befitting of the 15th anniversary of the original build of ACC Liverpool’s interconnected event campus; an investment made as part of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year in 2008.
“Thanks to the city’s bold vision and to the experienced and talented team at ACC Liverpool, those facilities have been transformed into an award winning flexible home for world class events; showcasing a city that’s truly welcoming and inclusive, a city rich in culture and in music.
“It is a privilege to support our fantastic clients in brining their event ambitions and objectives to life and we express our sincere thanks for the passion, resilience and can do attitude of our wider event partners and city stakeholder groups – a truly collaborative effort to create the wonderful city vibe that’s been so universally praised and which can be built upon in the years to come.”
Since opening the group, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liverpool City Council, says it has attracted more than 8.3 million visitors to around 4,500 events across its site as well as generating £2.1bn in economic benefit for the local economy.
During the financial year, the average number of people employed by the group in its events division increased from 149 to 175 and from 55 to 73 in the hotel.
Turnover in the group’s events division increased from £12.4m to £22.6m and from £5.9m to £7.3m for the hotel.